Miss the first post about my Costa Rica trip? Check it out here!
When our plane touched down in Liberia, Costa Rica, our adventure began. As we stepped out of the airport, the delicious, warm air hit us and we immediately started peeling off layers. Coming from the DC arctic, we all did a little victory dance to be in a tropical climate. Once we were in our tanks and shorts, we found our shuttle and the four of us who had arrived at similar times piled in.
For the next three hours we drove through the Costa Rican countryside until the road turned to dirt and lush trees and plants surrounded us. Apparently, the road was in particularly rough condition on the day we arrived so when we reached our home for the next few days, the Costa Rica Yoga Spa, we were ready to be out of the car and on solid ground.
Our dinner the first night gave us a great sense of what we were in for. Most of the food is grown on the property and what isn’t grown in the garden and greenhouse is sourced from local farmers. The produce colors were vibrant, fruits sweet, and the friendly staff greeted us like old friends they hadn’t seen in a while. It was exactly what we needed after a full day of travel.
After a candlelit opening ceremony, we fell asleep in our huge bunkbeds in open-air rooms. The resort is located on the side of a mountain and the views, even at night, are breathtaking.
The next morning we began the routine we would follow for the next few days. Sunrise meditation and yoga, breakfast, free time or beach time, lunch, afternoons of stand up paddle boarding, wellness programs, spa treatments or excursions like zip-lining, dinner, and nighttime fun including bonfires and salsa lessons. It was like summer camp with your best friends if camp was in a gorgeous tropical setting, you had total freedom over how you spent your time, and they served wine.
What struck me most was how quickly we all bonded. There were women from all over (one person traveled from Amsterdam!) with completely different lives, stories, and intentions for the trip, but everyone became close almost instantly. When I got food poisoning on our last night, one of the women immediately stepped in as my travel mom and took care of me (more on travel moms in another post 🙂
As I mentioned yesterday, this trip gave me the opportunity to reflect on everything 2017 brought and, as woo-woo as it may sound, find my center again. It made me remember that even though things had started to feel completely out of control (and definitely out of my control), the universe is always, always conspiring in our favor.
Cynthia, thank you for hosting a fantastic retreat and for allowing me the honor of photographing it!
